In 1999, the Fred Hutchinson Business Alliance announced that the 1999 E. Donnall Thomas Medal of Achievement would be awarded to Samuel N. Stroum.

Stroum was a self-made businessman whose philanthropy and support of Seattle’s health, education, and the arts will have a long-lasting impact.

The Thomas Medal of Achievement is named after E. Donnall Thomas, M.D., a founding member of the Hutchinson Center who in 1990 received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his pioneering achievements in bone-marrow transplantation, which have saved thousands of lives.